Dusk To Dawn

A Demon Douche Bag for A Babysitter - Ricardo

"Who the fuck are you?" Blurted from my mouth. My concern wasn't really to be polite right then. 

"Well aren't you sweet." The stranger before us stood with his arms crossed. We all were on guard, though Rainy was still on the couch, too surprised to have gotten up yet. "So I suppose this won't be a warm welcome then."

"How the hell did you get in my house?" Sam yelled, albeit somewhat panic and anger mixed in her voice.

"Rainy call the cops." I heard Nat say quietly to Rainy.

"I wouldn't do that last one if I were you. Not that you'll be able to." To our shock, the stranger held up each of our phones in almost a taunting way. I cursed the fact Sam's parents never got a house phone. "Now, how about we calm down?"

"Like hell! You could be serial killer!" I yelled. In case it wasn't obvious, I didn't trust this guy.

"Don't flatter me. If I wanted to kill you kids, I would have done so already, and easily at that." The stranger said way too calmly, and with a flat smirk on his face. His grey eyes scanned over each of us, drinking in the details of us. It felt like a scientist observing their test experiments. 

"We don't want any trouble. Just take what you want and leave." Sam said, understanding there wasn't really any way for us to call for help. 

"Well I could do that, but most people don't like being kidnapped." The stranger said as he sat on the couch on the other end, Rainy quickly moving away and standing up. The stranger briefly narrowed his eyes at this but said nothing.

"The hell does that mean?"

"It means that what I came for, is you kids." He said in a blank tone, almost sounding bored.

"Us? What did we do?" Nat asked, stepping back from the couch.

"You were born." The stranger shrugged as he said this. 

"Are you an asshole all the time or is this just a special occasion?" I muttered. With a wave of his hand, shadow like tendrils formed to our horror. Darting toward us, the wrapped around our waists and arms, pulling us toward the couch, before forcing us to sit down in front of him. "Now, you are gonna sit like good little children, listen to what I say, and you'll be fine. Got it?" When none of us answered he let out a breath before sitting up straight. "Good. Now, I'm not gonna sugarcoat shit. Otherwise we'll be here all night. You four are what we refer to as the chosen prophets." 

"Chosen...Prophets? Nat said quietly.

The guy nodded. "Yes. Heaven and Hell decided your souls would be the ones to be....changed a bit."

"Changed for what exactly?" Sam asked as she drew her knees to her chest.

"To help find and fight what we call......the Lost Ones. The souls who aren't good enough for Heaven but aren't bad enough for Hell. The ones who've torn themselves apart piece by piece, both in body and soul, in life and death. Because they lose themselves....They lose anything resembling humanity and morals. They're monsters that are willing to do anything for whatever reason. In short...they're incredibly dangerous. So to find them and combat them, Heaven and Hell created a small group of souls that are born each time with small abilities to find and stop the Lost Ones."

"This is fucking crazy." I said bitterly.

"I know. But the fact is that this is who you are. You either accept it and learn how to use your abilities in more than just everyday life, or wait until a Lost One ambushes you, abuses you before tearing you apart in every way possible."

"W-what do you mean?" Rainy spoke. Knowing her she was gonna beat herself up later for the barely noticeable stuttering. She hated when she stuttered. 

"Because of the way your souls were made....Lost Ones seek you for their own purposes, very rarely ever good ones. Every stranger that stared at you too long, every bully that seemed to toggle the lines of going too far without actually doing anything, every time you notice someone following you. Dead or alive, you four are essential to them." I felt fear run through my veins, as my blood was ice. "There is a catch though. While each of you do have a soul, it is not a complete one, but there is enough of one that none of you are at risk to becoming a Lost One. However, for a Lost One, only of you isn't enough for them to piece themselves back together. All four of you are needed to create a soul healed enough for them to use." Heavy silence filled the room as we took in each word he said.

"How are we supposed to believe this? This...None of that shit makes any sense." Sam ended up saying.

"There's no way any of that's possible." Nat supported. Rainy and I nodded in agreement, still unsure what to actually say.

"You're more than welcome to discredit everything I've told you. But understand I won't be the one taking the blame if you brats die." The guy said.

"We don't even know who the hell you are." Rainy attempted to sound brave.

"Of course you do. I gave my name after all."

"No you didn't you pr-"

"Ajax." I cut Sam off.

"There we go. Now, until you figure whether you plan on living or dying, I'll be hanging around you brats. Don't do anything stupid. Oh, and one more thing." With a flick of his wrist, heat crept around each of our wrists, and black tendril like tattoos formed, curling around our wrists. "Those pretty little marks will allow me to know where you are and what's going on if you are in danger of some sort. You can try to run but those marks won't be going anywhere unless I remove them myself. So keep yourselves alive, alright?" With that, shadows and flames wrapped around Ajax, leaving us in a room where the silence and fear were louder than anything we could have said. In the morning, it become more real when we had woken up to the black vine like markings on our wrists.